Wednesday, 24 April 2013

Simple Gathered Skirt - Tutorial

I love making little gathered skirts because they are so easy to make and customise. You can make them in any width / length you want to fit any size you need.

First of all, take your little girl's measurements. Mine were 20" waist and 11" waist to knee for my 4 year old. These are the measurements I will be using in my tutorial today but I will show you how to easily change this to your measurements.

Second, add 3" onto your waist to knee measurement. This is the length. The width will depend on how wide your material off the bolt is. Mine was 40" after I had cut off the selvedges.

Cut out your material for the skirt. My piece ended up being 40" x 14". Fold the material so the right sides are together and the fold is down one side, you will sew the other side shut to make a tube. I like to use a 1/8" seam allowance. I run one line of straight stitch and then a line of zigzag in the seam allowance to strengthen. Make sure you backstitch at the beginning and end of your line of stitching to secure your stitches. This seam will end up being on the centre back of your skirt. As you can see in the picture, I also inserted my label into this seam, about half way down.

Fold your hem over 1/2" then over again to hide all your raw edges. Stitch with a straight stitch. I used a twin needle as it looks much more professional. A single line of stitching works just as well though. Again, backstitch at the beginning and end of your line of stitching.

Now to make the casing for your elastic. Fold the top raw edge over 1/2" and iron in place. Fold over 1-1/2" and iron. Pin along the bottom edge of the casing then stitch as close as you can to the top edge. You can then stitch along the bottom to make your casing. It is extra important to do backstitch at the beginning and end here as otherwise your stitches will all fall out when you put your elastic in. Speaking of which, when you sew the bottom edge, make sure to leave a 2" gap somewhere at the back of your skirt so you have space to insert your elastic.

Cut some 1" wide elastic long enough to go around your child's waist. For my skirt I needed 19.5". Attach a safety pin to one side of the elastic and feed it through the casing. Sew the two ends together, overlapping about 1/2" to make the elastic fit snugly. Push it into the casing and sew the opening shut.

Pull your waistband open as wide as you can get it. This helps the material to gather nice and evenly instead of all bunching up on one side. I like to stretch my waistband and stitch a long line of straight stitch all the way around. This keeps your elastic from rolling when being worn or washed. Make sure to stretch it as much as you can when stitching otherwise you will find your stitches break when trying to get the skirt on and off.

Your simple gathered skirt is done. Simple and cute! I love how you can customise these so easily. You could attach some lace around the bottom to make a super girly skirt or add some tulle underneath to make it poofy.